Saturday, March 22, 2014

It is, perhaps, not fair to give such a riveting story only
4 stars, but I often found it confusing, in great part, I am sure, that the
original was written by long hand and the conventions of the day were not set
as they are now.

Seven Sager children made it to the Whitman Mission after
losing both parents on the way. They did not, as a popular book and movie has
made out, come alone, but were brought by the wagon master and helpful people
within the train.

The Whitman's adopted them and they stayed at the Mission
until the massacre when the two boys were killed, and a younger girl died of
complications or neglect, from the measles. (Once the massacre started, there
was no one allowed to care for the recovering children.)

Of the four remaining girls, Catherine, Elizabeth, and
Matilda each wrote their recollections of what happened, and the time-line of
events. That they do not always match is to be understood and accepted. Every
person sees and hears the same thing differently, add to that time and memory,
and well, that's why eye-witnesses are not as good in a Court of Law as
forensics and DNA. I don't believe Henrietta Naomi ever wrote anything that was
published. She was very young and possibly had no memories of the massacre. She
also died young, at age 26.

What confused me were the lack of names and often the lack
of quotations. I was not always sure who spoke. Or to whom the missive was
addressed. Probably at the time the book was originally published, people
remembered, and the names were not as important. But I would like to know.

If the history of the Oregon Country is of interest to you,
I do recommend this book. (I've read it twice). My book is a hard back,
purchased at the Whitman Mission several years ago, and I am delighted to see
it is still in print.

It shows the Whitmans as they were--genuine people who truly
cared about people, and did not differentiate between white and red skin color.

Honor Bright comes to America with her sister, who is to be
wed to Adam Cox in the small Quaker town of Faithwell, in Ohio (3 miles from
Oberlin). She is, from the get-go set into a new life nothing like she has ever
known. From the start, she is sick all the way across the Atlantic. She gets
better, and her sister dies just short of reaching Faithwell.

The Quakers of the New World are different from the ones she
is used to. The homes and buildings are different. The speech is different.
Life, she is discovering, is different. She is used to the permanency of stone,
not the temporary and flammable wood so common on these shores.

In a word, Honor is frightened, lonely, in mourning, and
most importantly, she is homesick. If you've never been there consider yourself
fortunate!

Honor is met with suspicion and jealousy. She is young,
pretty, and competition to the single girls in the town. Her quilting is different,
her stitches are even and tiny—one more thing to set her apart and add to her
homesickness.

When she marries, she is not welcome by any in her new
family but her husband. She is told not to help escaping slaves, but no one
tells her why they refuse to get involved. She must discover that on her own as
she follows the dictates of her conscious.

Had I started this book in the morning, it would have been a
"one-sit" read; alas, I started it at night, intending to read a
couple chapters a night before turning out my light. I read until my eyes
burned and the words swam off the page and I couldn't seem to get them back
where they belonged. I finished it the next day. (The dusting could wait!)

The fact Ms. Chevalier attended Oberlin College added to the
realism of the area and era of The Last Runaway. I found the characters
believable, especially considering the times. And having been as homesick as
Honor at one time in my life, thrust into a totally different environment, where
the language was the same—but not, etc., I found her quite believable. I could
even understand the draw to the bad boy, Donovan.

When I closed the book, I immediately began to re-write the
ending to suit me (a game in which I often indulge). And, you know what? Ms.
Chevalier nailed it! She wrote the perfect ending for this story. Of course, I
want to know what comes next in Honor's life, but I don't think this is the
first of a series. I have not read Ms. Chevalier's other books, but they are
most assuredly on my list.

Would I recommend this book? Oh, most definitely! Anyone who
is interested in the Underground Railroad, without all the drama and hype of
Hollywood would like it. Anyone who likes history should enjoy it. But beware.
It may turn into a one-sit read.

Monday, March 17, 2014

This little book is chockablock full of short vignettes
about "uppity" women from the last 4,000 years. While it is a book of
herstory, and Ms. Leon has obviously done her research, it is not a scholarly tome
of total seriousness; however, it is a book of great fun and interesting women.
I certainly would not recommend it to be the only book on the bibliography of a
high school paper!

In many cases, there is hardly more than a paragraph known
about the woman, and it seems pretty remarkable to me that Ms. Leon was able to
ferret out as much as she did about her. I bought this book to use in my own
research, to glean ideas and names from the pages for possible stories of my
own. For that, it is perfect!

If you want in-depth herstory after reading some of these
vignettes, in many cases it is available at your nearest library or bookstore.
Ms. Leon has included a bibliography which is worth the read, if you want more
information.

Did she get ALL the uppity women? Of course not, but she got
a fair amount. (I would have loved to read her take on Mrs. Mary Jemison, a
contemporary of Eunice Williams.)

And, of course, I would have LOVED to have seen my most favorite uppity woman, Madame Marie Dorion in her book!

Her style of writing is fun, at times almost flippant, but
she gets her point across. There were times I laughed out loud at some of her
remarks. This is herstory written for everyone, not just the academics of
serious scholars.

The story of the Baltimore widow, Mary Young Pickersgill,
was a new one for me, and fascinating (the "real" Betsey Ross). I
knew the stories of Sally Hemings and Eunice Williams, and some of the female
pirates and thieves, but many of these vignettes introduced me to women I had
not heard of, and I want to learn more. I have heard and read a bit about The
Tales of Genji, but did not know how or why it was written. Indeed, I learned a
great deal from this little gem.